The positive psychology (PP) landscape is changing, and its initial identity is being challenged. Moving beyond the “third wave of PP,” two roads for future research and practice in well-being studies are discerned: The first is the state of the art PP trajectory that will (for the near future) continue as a scientific (sub)discipline in/next to psychology (because of its popular brand name). The second trajectory (main focus of this manuscript) links to pointers described as part of the so-called third wave of PP, which will be argued as actually being the beginning of a new domain of inter- or transdisciplinary well-being studies in its own right. It has a broader scope than the state of the art in PP, but is more delineated than in planetary well-being studies. It is in particular suitable to understand the complex nature of bio-psycho-social-ecological well-being, and to promote health and wellness in times of enormous challenges and changes. A unique cohering focus for this post-disciplinary well-being research domain is proposed. In both trajectories, future research will have to increase cognizance of metatheoretical assumptions, develop more encompassing theories to bridge the conceptual fragmentation in the field, and implement methodological reforms, while keeping context and the interwovenness of the various levels of the scientific text in mind. Opportunities are indicated to contribute to the discourse on the identity and development of scientific knowledge in mainstream positive psychology and the evolving post-disciplinary domain of well-being studies.

Qualitative studies of lay people’s perspectives on facets of well-being are scarce, and it is not known how the perspectives of people with high and low levels of well-being dovetail or differ. This research explored the experiences of people with high/flourishing versus low/languishing levels of positive mental health in three cross-sectional survey design studies. Languishing and flourishing participants were selected in each study based on quantitative data from the Mental Health Continuum - Short Form as reported by Keyes et al. (Journal of Health and Social Behavior43:207–222, 2002). Qualitative content analyses were conducted on written responses to semistructured open-ended questions on the what and why of important meaningful things (study 1,n = 42), goals (study 2,n = 30), and relationships (study 3,n = 50). Results indicated that well-being is not only a matter of degree—manifestations differ qualitatively in flourishing and languishing states. Similar categories emerged for what flourishing and languishing people found important with regard to meaning, goals, and relationships, but the reasons for the importance thereof differed prominently. Languishing people manifested a self-focus and often motivated responses in terms of own needs and hedonic values such as own happiness, whereas flourishers were more other-focused and motivated responses in terms of eudaimonic values focusing on a greater good. We propose that positive mental health can be conceptualized in terms of dynamic quantitative and qualitativepatterns of well-being.Interventions to promote well-being may need to take into account the patterns of well-being reflecting what people on various levels of well-being experience and value.

This study explored whether an overlap exists in the empirical manifestations of various constructs for psychological well-being. Secondary factor analyses were conducted on data obtained from four studies, comprising 2,024 participants from relatively individualist and collectivist cultural contexts. Questionnaires varied in data sets and measured facets of affective, cognitive, conative, spiritual, interpersonal and social well-being. Results showed a great overlap of constructs on an empirical level in both social/cultural contexts. A (higher-order) general psychological well-being (GPW) factor was identified as well as unique patterns in relatively individualist and collectivist cultural contexts. There was evidence to suggest a strong GPW component in psychological resilience. A hierarchical model of psychological well-being appears to have merit.

Meaning in life is a key indicator of subjective well-being and quality of life. Further developments in understanding and enhancing the construct will depend inter alia on the sound measurement thereof. This study is at the forefront of applying modern psychometric techniques to the Meaning in Life Questionnaire, a scale widely used to assess meaning in life. The Rasch rating scale model was applied to the Presence and Search subscales of the Meaning in Life Questionnaire using a sample of 601 adults from South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. The Presence subscale was insensitive at high levels of presence of meaning while the majority of the respondents fell in that range. Removal of item 9 (“My life has no clear purpose”) and collapsing the response categories indicative of low and medium levels of the latent construct significantly improved the subscale’s targeting and fit to the Rasch model, resulting in a subscale that exhibited differential item functioning on items 1 (“I understand my life’s meaning”), 4 (“My life has a clear sense of purpose”), and 5 (“I have a good sense of what makes my life meaningful”) for country, but none for gender, age group, or education level. The Search subscale yielded disordered category threshold calibrations, but after collapsing some of the response categories representing low and medium levels of the target construct, a subscale that demonstrated good fit to the Rasch model, good targeting, and no differential item functioning resulted. In terms of this particular scale, adaptation of the rating scale and removal of item 9 is recommended. Country-level parameter estimates may be needed for items that exhibited differential item functioning. The study also has significant implications for the theory, measurement, and practice of meaning in and quality of life in general. Reasons for and the far-reaching implications of the insensitivity of the Presence subscale for high levels of presence of meaning on, for example, the correlation between meaning in life and indicators of health are contemplated. Further investigation of the construct’s nature and measurement, especially at high levels, is indicated.

This paper provides a brief overview of facets of meaning and relational well-being highlighting the foci of current research on meaning, relationships as sources of meaning, contextual relevance and meta-theoretical assumptions. Lacunae in knowledge are indicated and a model proposed as framework for further research on meaning and relational well-being which was the focused topic of this special issue.